Average User Rating

The BadCould be cheaper; weighs a tonne; could melt an icecap when it's in full swing.

The Bottom LineOne of the hardest things we'll ever do will be giving the TX-NR906 back to Onkyo. Movie soundtracks will blow you away if you have a good speaker system, and even music can sound stunning on this big monster. It's not often that we fall in love with a piece of equipment, but the TX-NR906 is the answer to our technological prayers

The Onkyo TX-NR636 offers a compelling mix of features and performance with "future proofing"...

You can spend virtually unlimited amounts of cash on home-cinema equipment. Between projectors, TVs, amplifiers and speakers, there's plenty of scope for bankruptcy and severe marital discord.

With a recommended retail price of �1,400, the Onkyo TX-NR906 isn't the cheapest AV receiver in the world. That said, bargains can be had -- for example, we've seen this receiver available online for less than �1,000. While we're not going to pretend the TX-NR906 is cheap, we have a feeling it might have plenty to offer.

DesignOur review sample of the TX-NR906 was finished in glorious black. You can get it in silver too, but that's a bit '90s for our taste. The whole package looks like it means business, from the dominating and satisfying volume dial to the generous display. The buttons are all a decent size too, and they all do something useful.

The supplied remote control is large but well balanced and light. The buttons can also be illuminated, which means, in a darkened home cinema, you should still be able to control the volume without hammering all the wrong buttons first.

The back of the TX-NR906 is jammed full of input and outputs, as you'd imagine. Lets start with the basics. There are four HDMI inputs and two outputs, which is generous enough. It's good to see the HDMI inputs are numbered -- you wouldn't believe how important this is when you're setting the equipment up.

For analogue video, there are three component inputs and five composite and S-Video sockets. You also get five stereo RCA connections for the various video inputs. Although this might seem confusing, when you start plugging things in, it's very straightforward.

Digital audio, if you aren't getting it from an HDMI-equipped source, is handled by a trio of coaxial inputs and two optical audio jacks. You can assign a digital input to your choice of picture source, and this is done through a simple menu system.

The TX-NR906 has connections aplenty

Obviously, inputs are only half the story. The rest of the considerable number of connections is dedicated to getting sound to the speakers. The binding posts for speaker wire are good and substantial, and, while wiring these things up is never much fun, the Onkyo makes it as easy as possible.

FeaturesThe TX-NR906 has so much going on, it's difficult to know where to start.

Most importantly, it can handle both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA, as well as the older Dolby Digital and DTS 96/24 codecs. Put simply, if it comes off a DVD or Blu-ray disc, this receiver can decode it. Just remember: if you're using uncompressed audio, make sure you're connected using the HDMI inputs, as nothing else can carry uncompressed digital audio.

If setting up an AV receiver seems too tricky, don't worry -- there's an automated routine whereby you place a microphone where you usually sit and the amp sends out random noise from each speaker. Using this sound, the Onkyo is able to work out where each speaker is, and how much sound should be sent to it. Obviously, speakers further away will require more than those close to the listener.